IMO boss, Kitack Lim, posing next to the 13th sustainable development goal – just what CAN wants to see realised. Photo: Flickr.com / International Maritime Organization CC BY

International shipping must act now

“Actions taken under the International Maritime Organization to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have ranged from disappointing to completely ineffective,” says Climate Action Network International in a new statement (1). “Proceeding under the framework of the 2018 Initial IMO GHG Strategy, the negotiations for short-term measures have produced outcomes that will have no impact on emissions this decade and minimal impact thereafter,” commented CAN.

CAN is concerned that present discussions within the IMO are again delaying action for a long time. Only a small levy on fuels is proposed to fund R&D, which is unlikely to incentivise emissions reductions.
To bring shipping sector emissions in line with the imperative of limiting warming to 1.5°C, CAN demands, for example, that the IMO:

adopts a carbon price that will enter into effect by 2025;
adopts a rigorous lifecycle approach so that truly sustainable and renewable fuels and energy sources are used;
revises the long-term emissions goal to ensure the complete decarbonisation of the sector by 2050 or earlier;
adopts other measures necessary to ensure the rapid introduction of zero-carbon renewable sources of energy and propulsion.

The UK government has recently decided to include shipping emissions in its national climate policy carbon budget target. New ships have a life expectancy of 30 years, so the IMO must act now.

Reinhold Pape

(1) https://climatenetwork.org/resource/briefing-12th-petersberg-climate-dia...

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Main menu

International shipping must act now

In this issue

Call to protect the cloud forests

Editorial: GHG emissions must be halved by 2030

Symbolic CO2 threshold crossed

Energy targets need to be bolder

Emission limits still breached

Material recovery opportunities from the clean energy sector

Toxic threat from wood burning

Norway’s future without oil

Norway’s oil and gas market grows – NGOs call for phase-out

Paying farmers for carbon

The rise of floating solar photovoltaic farms

New EU farm policy supports business as usual

Towards climate-friendly food production

12 mega oil and gas projects to wreck 1.5°C chances

No future for nuclear power

In Breif

EU Zero Pollution Action Plan

New European city air quality viewer

1.5°C to survive – Evidence from the IPCC Special Reports

Climate toolkit for Russian municipalties

Publications

Food for Thought

Northern forests, climate change and the UNFCCC

EU climate targets aligned with the Paris agreement’s 1.5°C objective

Baltic Sea Offshore Wind Collaborative-Learning project

Air pollution in Europe and children’s health

Climate Change: A Himalayan Odessey

No further discussion needed. The agreed global goal is to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C

Fossil-free electricity 2021

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